Very good to meet you Birdman. JoeFred Turner who runs www.smokystreams.com and frequents this board is also from near you there in Russellville. I lived for a long time in an old duplex apartment called the pettibone house on Rogers street right next to Crockett Creek and next door to the old Crocketts tavern (near Rogersville milling company and the City School). Yeah I never trout fished either until the last year and now I love it. I am going to Hazel Creek in May myself! I too like the far back of beyond streams. Hey you want to shoot me an email offline here my email address is adam . s . beal @ gmail dot . com.

Very good to meet you Birdman. JoeFred Turner who runs www.smokystreams.com and frequents this board is also from near you there in Russellville. I lived for a long time in an old duplex apartment called the pettibone house on Rogers street right next to Crockett Creek and next door to the old Crocketts tavern (near Rogersville milling company and the City School). Yeah I never trout fished either until the last year and now I love it. I am going to Hazel Creek in May myself! I too like the far back of beyond streams. Hey you want to shoot me an email offline here my email address is adam . s . beal @ gmail dot . com.

Thanks for your response Mr Cassada. I guess we will agree to disagree. Just reading this thread with all the open information is hard. I have not been on here in a while and this board has drastically changed as far as open information. I have visited another local flyfishing board as well and they have a don't ask, don't tell policy. I guess I get a little touchy about it because my grandfather and father took me to all these places when I was a boy and they are kind of sacred to me. Every time I have been to three forks I never even thought about following another fisherman. Now I really don't know if that will be the case any more. The interned is a blessing, but also a curse. Again, I just wanted to tell you how much I truly enjoyed your book. As far is it went I really didn't think it gave up alot of those truly "special" places. I do appreciate your willingness to help these gentleman that are new to the sport and I will help them in any way if they want to send me a personal email.

The various local names,and how/who created them are a fascinating result of such mostly verbal history accounts,that have held me and my wife,s close attention,since meeting one Marie Mellinger,some 30 years ago in our home state of Ga.! Her self-taught extensive knowledge of the S.E. Flora and Fauna,geology,Indian and settler history, peppered her naturalist-sharing days and evenings,as she led the then urban mixed group over the Hills of Habersham,the peaks of the Smokies,and the AT,with a group called the "Wild Edibles!" Finding wild food,integrating it into a meal was the goal we thought,but the outcome was to gain a deeper understanding of the treasures we were overlooking,as we urban types spent recovery time with nature.......not fully aware of the richness of our surroundings! As a retired teacher,she was president several times of the Atlanta Botanical Society,served under the Carter Governorship,as native plant survey lead, and spent years on several indian reservations,as wife of a nature reserve manager, finally{ and this is not an extensive count of her rich, mostly self-taught background}, she wrote for her Clayton. Ga. newspaper weekly articles, called "Roadside Rambles",many years in to her retirement years, before passing on in 2008 AT 96.....+ or - a year or two......her secret! This comes to mind, after hearing how a friendly casual encounter between strangers, led to learning of "new" local history, and is shared,thru story telling......an art form dear to our hearts, and a diminishing resource,it seems to me! It was my wife Patty and my honor to know this lady of the woods, and to "Do- A- Woods" drive with her,for some ten years,on a bi-weekly basis.... after Marie could no longer drive her car, she called "Libby!" We still host the dwindling and loosely organized roster of " Wild Edibles " folks for a Christmas get together at our home for the last ten years near Clarkesville, Ga., where the verbal history carried forward, by Marie, gets another chapter addition! The connection is loose,but o-so valuable to this Mtn. Man.! Thanks for listening{er. reading} Rocketroy

The various local names,and how/who created them are a fascinating result of such mostly verbal history accounts,that have held me and my wife,s close attention,since meeting one Marie Mellinger,some 30 years ago in our home state of Ga.! Her self-taught extensive knowledge of the S.E. Flora and Fauna,geology,Indian and settler history, peppered her naturalist-sharing days and evenings,as she led the then urban mixed group over the Hills of Habersham,the peaks of the Smokies,and the AT,with a group called the "Wild Edibles!" Finding wild food,integrating it into a meal was the goal we thought,but the outcome was to gain a deeper understanding of the treasures we were overlooking,as we urban types spent recovery time with nature.......not fully aware of the richness of our surroundings! As a retired teacher,she was president several times of the Atlanta Botanical Society,served under the Carter Governorship,as native plant survey lead, and spent years on several indian reservations,as wife of a nature reserve manager, finally{ and this is not an extensive count of her rich, mostly self-taught background}, she wrote for her Clayton. Ga. newspaper weekly articles, called "Roadside Rambles",many years in to her retirement years, before passing on in 2008 AT 96.....+ or - a year or two......her secret! This comes to mind, after hearing how a friendly casual encounter between strangers, led to learning of "new" local history, and is shared,thru story telling......an art form dear to our hearts, and a diminishing resource,it seems to me! It was my wife Patty and my honor to know this lady of the woods, and to "Do- A- Woods" drive with her,for some ten years,on a bi-weekly basis.... after Marie could no longer drive her car, she called "Libby!" We still host the dwindling and loosely organized roster of " Wild Edibles " folks for a Christmas get together at our home for the last ten years near Clarkesville, Ga., where the verbal history carried forward, by Marie, gets another chapter addition! The connection is loose,but o-so valuable to this Mtn. Man.! Thanks for listening{er. reading} Rocketroy

Sam--I've been away from the forum for a few days trying to peddle some books at the Southeastern Wildlife Expo, but your mention of cemeteries brought a thought to mind about one I hope you can help me with.
An old map I have from pre-Park days shows a cemetery a mile or more up Mingus Creek about where it makes a big bend, and Bill Hart tells me there was once a strange marker there along the trail--a sort of tall pole with bottles atop it. The cemetery isn't covered in "The Cemeteries of Swain County," a book which, overall, is pretty thorough, and I haven't been able to find out anything else. Do you have any insight? Thanks. Jim Casada

Rocketroy--Your post truly intrigued me. While this is a fly-fishing forum, anyone who has read many of my musings realizes I have a great interest in wild foods. Indeed, in company with my wife, I have written seven or eight cookbooks, and all of them deal with foods from nature. Most are game and fish recipes, but quite possibly my favorite section in any of the books is one devoted to wild nuts, fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, etc. in our book "Wild Bounty." I love the thoughts of self-sufficiency and links with the past that come from things like picking wild strawberries, blackberries, huckleberries, service berries, etc.; from gathering and cracking hazelnuts and walnuts (and thinking of that wonderful nut we have lost, the American chesnut); and enjoying the likes of poke sallet, branch lettuce, and ramps.
Jim Casadawww.jimcasadaoutdoors.com